rhinoivory Posted August 7, 2002 Share Posted August 7, 2002 Ok, so heres the deal. I have a 7 gallon tank, coral sand, nothing more...... I also have a 70watt Metal Halide pendant on stand-by. Heres the problem... Should I keep the 70watt over the 7 gallon that will house soft corals, lps and the such OR use 3 15 watt NO tubes over the 7 gallon and keep the 70watt MH for a 20 gallon that will be kept after my house extension? I am leaning towards uisng the MH over my 7 gallon, but will it be overkill on the low light lovin corals such as shrooms and the such? If it is, could I just raise the pendant so it looses that intensity? Any info would be great guys and gals! Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted August 7, 2002 Share Posted August 7, 2002 use tubes for the LPS and softies...i wouldn't waste the MH on corals that won't appreciate taht much light. keep it and make an SPS tank....umm, maybe make the 7gal an SPS nano Lunchbucket Link to comment
Sahin Posted August 8, 2002 Share Posted August 8, 2002 I agree with Lunchbucket it'de be a waste to use the MH on a predominantly soft coral tank. Even if you place the light high up, you are wasting it. Keep it for a slightly larger tank and with a few NO or PC tubes, it should be good enough for a SPS setup. Link to comment
rhinoivory Posted August 8, 2002 Author Share Posted August 8, 2002 Sounds like you guys have a point, thanks lunchbucket and sahin for your replys.... I will reserve the MH i have on order for a larger tank as you guys said! Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted August 8, 2002 Share Posted August 8, 2002 no prob just wanting you to save some $$ in electricity, save that light for a better purpose, and maybe save some corals in hte process! Lunchbucket Link to comment
Strife Posted August 8, 2002 Share Posted August 8, 2002 yup, like what they all said... MH on nano would be expensive, considering the price of the unit, and the power output that it would produce. MH's put out so much heat that you might have to spend more money on a chiller... unless you plan to keep sps in the 7, i would not recommend using MH, but you can try it . its all just personal preference. I too have came across the idea of a 70 watt ushio bulb over my tank, but since i dont have the time and money to build the project, I decided to stay with my 2 18 watt PC's which i think is strong for my 7 gallon. and someday upgrade to 2 24 watt or 2 36 watt. good luck, mike Link to comment
Lunchbucket Posted August 8, 2002 Share Posted August 8, 2002 stryf3, sorry but MH's don't put out as much heat as the comparible wattage w/ pc's or vho's. my tank is about the same w/ a 150w DE MH and 1x36w PC actinic than it was with 2x36w pcs. try and do a tank w/ a 70w DE MH and 70w of PC's and i bet they are about the same if not the MH is cooler. mine was. it is just that MH have point source heat so they seem hotter when in fact they aren't. a 7 would be fine w/ a 70w DE. if anything a 3" fan could keep up w/ it no prob. also if you do an Ushio 10,000k i would get PC supplementation on it...the ushios look like crap in MO. Lunchbucket Link to comment
Strife Posted August 8, 2002 Share Posted August 8, 2002 DDUUHHH, thats why theres a kilowatt measurement, everybody knows that. if you read the whole post, it was being compared against 3 15 watt that he wants as the other option..... so that 70 watt MH.. vs 45watt NO bulbs... and thats extra 25 watt's used. so like i said. it will be "HOTTER" HOTTER than 3 15 watt bulbs... LB, i never compared a 70 watt bulb against another 70 watt bulb/s, sorry man, but you really have to read the post before you start giving your comments.. and since you brought up the comparison.. a 70 watt MH vs a 70 watt PC' will "NOT" put out the same heat...either one will be hotter. it depends on what Kelvin """degree's""" you get... so yes a a 70 watt PC' with 10000K could be hotter than a 6500K MH.... theres my 10 cents... Link to comment
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